The Time Keeper

Chapter 73 - A Battle of Distance

The revelation struck me with a force I hadn't expected.

King, the enigmatic figure who loomed over us like a shadow, had played a role in Fleur's past as she had admitted back on the boat—a role that was both saviour and destroyer.

But now the revelation that Rex was a part of it all too changed things.

"Yes," Fleur admitted quietly. "He did save us, but at what cost?"

Rex's expression softened, a flicker of vulnerability crossing his features. "There was no cost," he replied, his voice barely above a whisper. "When King killed my parents in front of me, I felt nothing but bliss."

The weight of his words hung heavy in the air, a stark reminder of the trauma that had shaped his life. My gaze shifted to Lucas, his jaw clenched tight, the turmoil of emotions evident in his eyes.

"My tycoon parents," Rex continued, his voice tinged with bitterness. "They held me down, suffocating me with their expectations. They wanted me to follow in their footsteps, to inherit their wealth and power. But all my life, I wanted to cast them aside, to make something of myself without the suffocating pressure of familial lineage."

A sense of understanding washed over me as Rex's words resonated some of my own.

"King appreciated my desire," Rex continued, his voice laced with a mix of reverence and defiance. "He saw the potential in me, in us. And he gave us the chance to break free from the chains of our past."

Fleur's voice cut through the silence, her tone sharp with disbelief. "Rex, King was nothing more than a new weight. He was the exact same as your parents," she insisted, her gaze unwavering.

Rex let out a weary sigh, his shoulders slumping as if burdened by the weight of his past. "After that day, King made the impossible, possible for us," he confessed, his voice tinged with a mixture of bitterness and longing. "And now you want to take that away? Interfering with the Black Rose, it will only destroy what King has built."

I watched Fleur closely, knowing that she had just made the connection. Rex's affiliation with The Black Rose suddenly made sense, aligning with the list of names we had discovered and now Rex being the bridge between King and the Rose.

"This has nothing to do with The Black Rose," Fleur retorted, her voice firm and resolute.

Rex raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing at the corners of his lips. "Well, your friend on your shoulder might want to admit something then," he remarked casually, gesturing towards me.

Fleur's gaze shifted to me, and I could feel the weight of her scrutiny. Leaning against her, I met her gaze with a mixture of resignation and determination. The truth hung between us, unspoken yet palpable.

"I never wanted any of this," I confessed quietly, my voice barely above a whisper. "But we can't ignore the danger that The Black Rose poses."

Lucas started to walk over to Fleur and I, "Elias, this isn't what we had planned."

Fleur was still looking up at me and I gave a simple look as I tapped my chest, indicating I had the pages we came for.

Rex continued to pace toward us from the staircase, his movements measured and deliberate. "I can't let you leave this place," he declared, his voice tinged with a mix of authority and concern. "As I said before, this is for your own good."

As he drew closer, his figure began to distort, a subtle shimmer rippling through the air around him. I narrowed my eyes, recognizing the telltale signs of spacial manipulation at play.